Shuli Tang,1,* Tiantian Fan,2,* Xinxin Wang,2 Can Yu,2 Chunhui Zhang,1 Yang Zhou2 

1Department of Medical Oncology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150010, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150010, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Yang Zhou, Department of Radiology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, 150 Haping Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150010, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-451-85718915, Email zhouyang094@126.com

Purpose: With the rapid development of immunotherapy, cancer treatment has entered a new phase. Medical imaging, as a primary diagnostic method, is closely related to cancer immunotherapy. However, until now, there has been no systematic bibliometric analysis of the state of this field. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to clarify the past research trajectory, summarize current research hotspots, reveal dynamic scientific developments, and explore future research directions.
Patients and Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted on the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database to identify publications related to immunotherapy specifically for the medical imaging of carcinoma. The search spanned the period from the year 2003 to 2023. Several analytical tools were employed. These included CiteSpace (6.2.4), and the Microsoft Office Excel (2016).
Results: By searching the database, a total of 704 English articles published between 2003 and 2023 were obtained. We have observed a rapid increase in the number of publications since 2018. The two most active countries are the United States (n=265) and China (n=170). Pittock, Sean J and Abu-sbeih, Hamzah are very concerned about the relationship between cancer immunotherapy and medical images and have published more academic papers (n = 5; n = 4). Among the top 10 co-cited authors, Topalian Sl (n=43) cited ranked first, followed by Graus F (n=40) cited. According to clustering, timeline, and burst word analysis, the results show that the current research focus is on “MRI”, “deep learning”, “tumor microenvironment” and so on.
Conclusion: Medical imaging and cancer immunotherapy are hot topics. The United States is the country with the most publications and the greatest influence in this field, followed by China. “MRI”, “PET/PET-CT”, “deep learning”, “immune-related adverse events” and “tumor microenvironment” are currently hot research topics and potential targets.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, cancer, immunotherapy, medical imaging, CiteSpace